In recent years, the field of mass notification has developed in response to the threat of terrorist attacks on civilian and government facilities, the threat of violence on school and university campuses, the danger afforded by natural and/or man-made hazards, and other events that require the emergency management of a large group of people.
Regardless of the type of emergency, authorities must be able to communicate quickly and clearly with all people who are or may be affected by the emergency. A mass notification system provides this capability and permits real-time information to be disseminated to all people in the immediate vicinity of a building or larger geographic area during and after an emergency using graphical information, textual information, visible signaling, audible signaling, intelligible voice communications, and the like. When properly designed and implemented, a mass notification system can save lives.
In the United States, the field of mass notification is addressed/regulated by entities that include, but are not limited to, the Department of Defense (DoD), the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA). For example, OSHA 1910.165 requires employers that use an alarm system to provide warning for necessary emergency action as called in the emergency action plan or reaction time for safe escape of employees from the work place, the immediate work area, or both. As another example, Annex E of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 72 provides requirements for the application, installation, location, performance and maintenance of a mass notification system (“MNS”). As yet another example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Outdoor Public Alerting System Guide (December 2004) advocates, “using voice technology to address all natural and man-made hazards, including acts of terrorism and requires that all warning systems be operable in the absence of AC supply power.”
Systems configured to integrate mass notification capability to an existing notification system such as a fire system are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,013,755, which is commonly assigned herewith and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes the use of a white strobe to indicate a fire emergency in which occupants must evacuate and an amber strobe to indicate a mass notification in which occupants must await instructions.